This weekend my family had a cook off from around the world, with each person being in charge of making something delicious from a different country. My mother in law had Turkish and this is her recipe for baklava with a white chocolate twist.

What you need:

• 3/4 cup slivered almonds, coarsely chopped
• 100g white chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 12 sheets filo pastry
• 60g unsalted butter, melted
• 225g (1 cup) white sugar
• 125ml (1/2 cup) water
• 5 cardamom pods, bruised
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

What you do:

1. Place the almonds, chocolate and caster sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped.
2. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Place the filo on a clean work surface. Cover with a clean tea towel, then a damp tea towel (this will prevent it drying out). Brush 1 filo sheet with melted butter. Top with another filo sheet and brush with melted butter. Repeat with another filo sheet and melted butter. Cut into quarters. Spoon 1 tablespoonful of almond mixture along the centre of 1 narrow edge of each filo stack. Fold in sides and roll up to create a cigar shape. Place, seam-side down, on the lined tray and brush with melted butter. Repeat with remaining filo sheets, almond mixture and melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
3. Meanwhile, place white sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Add cardamom pods. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes or until syrup thickens. Stir in the lemon juice.
4. Place cigars in a heatproof dish. Drizzle over the syrup. Serve.

If you want to get experimental there are plenty of ways you can adapt this recipe. Add some orange zest to the filling or the sugar syrup, try a different combination of nuts, use chopped dark chocolate, accompany the baklava, with fresh figs or raspberries, or serve with a slick of salted caramel sauce or a scoop of ice cream while they’re still warm. Sweet and sticky deliciousness, yum!

The pics above are simply for inspiration sourced from pinterest.